> Yoinks. It must be awesome to live in a real country run by grown-ups.

Yeah... and it becomes even more awesome to see this kind of dastardly factualness in your own empire's back yard... "real country", "run by", my foot.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

> Yoinks. It must be awesome to live in a real country run by grown-ups.

Thanks, it is.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

lots of underage births and veneral disease--- like the USA. The problem in the USA is lack of education and backwards thinking policies. The problem in the UK is the sheer amount of underage excessive 'binge' drinking which lead to promiscuity, sexual assaults, statutory rape, and lack of use of condoms. The 'lad', and now more troubling the 'laddette,' culture has increased the amount of slappers out in the pubs and clubs and this is causing their rate of underage pregnancies, veneral diseases, bastards, etc. Both countries need to have been policies like in Europe and Scandanavia that encourages responsible sex (and doesn't pretend that young people won't have sex) and responsible use of alcohol.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

..........aren't really interested in reducing teen pregnancy or abotion. They would feel useless if there were not something "evil" to rally against. They want power and they want to punish people who have autonomous sex.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

is that finding is based on science and Bush, the Repub, and the Theocons don't believe in science only what they wish to tell themselves aka "Denial Of Reality". Abstinence does not work but bush condemns many people to death when he demands that OUR tax dollars, not his, must be used for teaching abstinence. And of course the direct result is the increasing spread of aids and the death of many. One day, given this kind of religious based policy, aids may reach critical mass and may become unstoppable. The Bush family will hide in their compound but what of the rest of us. Dollars are limited but the Repubs spend and spend and spend as if they were unlimited. Dollars for aids prevention and peace never for Republican corruption or corporate welfare.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Gingrich is still an ass and always will be. He should go back to the confederate state he comes from and continue his life of adultery and debauchery. No wonder he is a Baptists he needs a killer strict religion to keep him under at least minimal control although as with most radical extreme fundamentalist jihadist religions it is a failure, like my religion Catholicism as neither respect human life. If Gingrich wasn't so terribly repressed during his formative years when he should have been taught rather than repressed he would not be so obsessed with sex. A healthy sex life is important a harsh religious upbringing prevents the formation of a healthy attitude towards toward sex and creates never ending obssession about sex. Harsh taboos always do that. one cannot drive normal behavior underground because it festers and becomes wierd obsession. But religions who do that never seem to learn. Strict or harsh punishment toward is responsible for much mis/malbehavior which can easily last a lifetime. I am always amazed at southerners who frequently discuss their harsh punishment toward their children as they try to beat/whip normal behavior out of their children. Because the south is so mentally(and physically) incestuous they just continue to do the same things and reinforce their mindset among each other in their closed society so rampant with self righteousness and narrowmindedness. And the southern religions, especially Baptists and Catholics(once a northern and Democratic party religion but now long gone as it has fully adopted southern values) never seem to learn using the rod IS EXACTLY WHAT SPOILS THE CHILD.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Since we're getting to be such a promiscuous society?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Millions of years of biology, and they think they can stop people with abstinence? 14% is a pretty big number when you consider that.

Next time your dog tries to mount other dogs in the park, tell him that abstinence is cool because Dr. Dobson says it's cool.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Nice observation and grateful for the link to the original article. We will never be told that kind of analysis from the 'Merikaan govt-stenographers (corporado media). Given that most Anglo-Ams' ancestors were the fundamentalist riff-raff and rejects of English society some centuries back, it's not surprising to see the "grownups" figure out the science that their reject cousins documented (researchers-as-glimmers-of-hope?).

Given that the "isles" have been relatively more culturally isolated (hmm, "incestuous"?) from their continental relatives, it's not surprising that Britain has it's own similar issues to 'Mer'kuh differing only by degree. Two branches of whacko-sex-philos, the liberal Brit and the fundamentalist "Mer'kaan... such a global power. In that light, perhaps forced sterilization is in order to solve the underlying problems?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The term "teen pregnancy" is a racist, sexist misnomer, and it's time to stop using this term. Most pregnancies among teen girls are caused by adult men, and the stigma directed at what we call "teen pregnancy" is simply to allow liberals to safely deplore blacks and Latinos having babies without appearing racist. Poorer groups all over the world and historically have babies at earlier ages not because they're stupid or ignorant, but for rational reasons. The pretense that "teen pregnancy" is just an issue of contraception vs abstinence squabbling ignores far more crucial socioeconomic conditions. White American teens have pregnancy rates far lower than those of UK teens, due to the simple to the fact that white US teens are more affluent. The UK is just as deluded as we are. The only way to reduce "teen pregnancy" is to reduce the appalling rate of youth poverty in the US and the lower, but still unconscionable, rate in the UK. There's nothing wrong with contraceptive services and sex education, but advocates need to stop presenting them as simple solutions.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

No Christian who knows his Bible would ever support an "abstinence" program that tells teens and young adults not to have sex. Like every other religious tradition, Christianity includes a perspective on human psychology - Christianity rejected Judaism's reliance on rules and laws because not only did attempting to follow rules fail to prevent sin, but it made the person struggling to obey the rules MORE likely to sin due to the obsessive-compulsive cycle that the rule invoked within the person. It's like telling someone not to think about white bears - the moment you say it, the more likely the person is to think about white bears. (If anyone cares to read the source material, check out Romans chapter 7.)

To conquer sin, the New Testament advises prayer and "watchfulness," a forgotten discipline that is much like eastern meditation. But the New Testament never tells a Christian to conquer sexuality - on the contrary, it says that sexuality CANNOT be conquered, and that living a celibate life devoted to God is noble only for those whose bodies are naturally inclined toward asexuality. This is a "spiritual gift" in the New Testament's teaching (although I'm pretty sure, personally, that asexuality is a result of low testosterone in males and is best considered a medical condition to be remedied). The vast majority of humans should be married so that they can fulfill their sexual natures. (Check out 1 Cor. 7:32-40 for the source material.)

You know what? I think that getting married is a good idea. Monogamy is nice. And let's face it - if you're single, how often do you even get to have sex? Marriage is the best way to good sex life, and by far the safest.

Instead of telling people to be celibate - something that is sure to fail, even according to the New Testament's own model of human psychology - "pro-family" people should be working to change society so 22-year-olds can get married! Almost every evangelical Christian or religious Catholic that I've ever known has failed to make it to the altar as a virgin - and the reason is that they couldn't get married until their late 20s or their 30s because of the economic pressures that young people now face. Our parents got married right after high school or college. If we want to go back to that, then society must change. That means universal health care, decent jobs, affordable housing, the whole progressive economic agenda. "Pro-family" types should be jumping on board the progressive band-wagon and making real changes to our economic system - never mind "abstinence."

(BTW, I know that there are a lot of atheists who don't appreciate scripture references on AlterNet boards - but I post them not because I suggest that anyone should embrace Christianity, but to give progressives the ammunition to converse effectively with religionists who try to base rightwing views on the Bible.)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I agree entirely with your comments except the final sentence. Blair? Reed? New Labour? Grown ups? Really?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]